Improved Magnetic Anisotropy of YMn1-$xCrxO_3 $ Compounds

Recently, hexagonal manganites have attracted much attention because of the coexistence of ferroelectricity and antiferromagnetic (AFM) order. The crystal structure of hexagonal manganites consists of $MnO_5$ polyhedra in which $Mn^{3+}$ ion is surrounded by three oxygen atoms in plane and two apical oxygen ions. The Mn ions within Mn-O plane form a triangular lattice and couple the spins through the AFM superexchange interaction. Due to incomplete AFM coupling between neighboring Mn ions in the triangular lattice, the system forms a geometrically-frustrated magnetic state. Among hexagonal manganites, $YMnO_3$, in particular, is the best known experimentally since the f states are empty. In addition, for applications, $YMnO_3$ thin films have been known as promising candidates for non-volatile ferroelectric random access memories. However, $YMnO_3$ has low magnetic order temperature (~70 K) and A-type AFM structure, which hinders its applications. We have synthesized $YMn1_{-x}Cr_xO_3$ (x = 0, 0.05 and 0.1) samples by the conventional solid-state reaction. The powders of stoichiometric proportions were mixed, and calcined at $900^{\circ}C$ for $YMn1_{-x}Cr_xO_3$ for 24 h. The obtained powders were ground, and pressed into 5-mm-thick disks of 1/2-inch diameter. The disks were directly put into the oven, and heated up to $1,300^{\circ}C$ and sintered in air for 24 h. The phase of samples was checked at room temperature by powder x-ray diffraction using a Rigaku Miniflex diffractometer with Cu $K{\alpha}$ radiation. All the magnetization measurements were carried out with a superconducting quantum-interference-device magnetometer. Our experiments point out that the Cr-doped samples show the characteristics of a spin-glass state at low temperatures.